Running around with a mage friend in Shadowmoon Valley, trying to avoid the nasty bidepal dragonlike monsters in the Temple of Ata'Mal, I get a call asking for help to kill a big undead dragon flying around the Netherwing Ledge in an effort to retrive Gorefiend's armour. I mention that I am already in a group and questing for the Aldor, but 'you will be surprised how quickly I can get a group together' this fellow tells me. Many Bothans died to get the information to me that he is a warrior, so in considering that he would tank and my friend and I, warlock and mage, would be damage dealers, that only leaves a healer and one more random member to complete the group. Even if his group-gathering skills were half of what he boasted this should be pretty quick. I agree to help.

The warrior invites my friend and I in to the group. 'Hi! Help me find more members, okay?' I suppose he is sort of right, in that I'm surprised by his methods of getting a group together. He wants help to achieve something and recruits a patsy to do all his work for him so he can reap the rewards.

'It's your group, sir', I reply, which deflects the responsibility right back at him. I would be happy killing random orcs in the Temple of Ata'Mal, I don't really need to be here. Well, happier. If those stupid bidepal dragonlike monsters didn't patrol in patterns that led them to kill you whenever you turned your back I'd actually be happy, so maybe I took this offer up as a welcome break from the becoming-familiar corpse run.

'All we need now is a tank and healer', he continues. Pardon me? Maybe I got his role wrong, so I recheck.

'Um, you're a warrior', I tell him, hoping that this won't come as a shock to his system. Luckily it doesn't, but he tells me that he is arms-specced and therefore we need someone else to tank the dragon. Ah well, fine by me, as long as I don't have to explain myself why the warrior isn't tanking. And, in fact, the group gets together pretty quickly, as two paladins complete the group in short order. Sadly, they don't have flying mounts and the area the dragon patrols requires flying mounts to get to. It's a good thing I'm a warlock as I can summon people to my position with a summoning spell, with the help of two others. The warrior, my mage friend and I head to the rocky outcrop and summon the paladins.

There follows a quick discussion about which one will tank and which will heal, which is resolved without too much drama, and we start clearing an area of deadly flayers so that we may battle the dragon uninterrupted. Having been in a similar fight previously, I try to marshal some strategy together and ensure that everyone knows what's going to happen.

The dragon flies quite high, and so a character with a long-ranged attack needs to position himself on a peak to pull aggro on to him, at which point he runs down to where everyone else awaits, the tank pulls the dragon off the puller, and the fight commences in earnest. As I know the tactic and have a low-threat ranged attack I decide that I will pull the dragon.

Oh, and one more thing: 'does everyone have their spectrecles on? You can only see this dragon if you're wearing spectrecles, so please make sure you're wearing them'. This is an important point. The dragon is an undead ghost dragon, just to confuse a hunter's track animal sense, and can only been seen with special, thrilling headgear. Without it, the fight would look like someone being crushed do death by nothing. There are no objections to this request and, perhaps more importantly, no one asking what the bloody hell 'spectrecles' are. Good.

With that out of the way, everyone in the same place, all healthy and full of mana, and the fighting ground clear of other monsters, I head up to the nearby peak. The dragon makes its slow path around the floating island and starts to come close. I announce that he is coming and for people to prepare. I cast my spell, getting the dragon's undivided attention, and half-run half-jump back down to the ground where my companions await!

And they continue to await. The dragon swoops down, and bats me once with his rather big claw. I let out a yell as some flesh and blood takes an unscheduled holiday from the rest of me, and still my companions do nothing. Another claw hits, more bodily injury results, and I get a reaction from my group. Sadly, it is bemusement at what I can only assume where my 'antics'. The dragon's head comes down and bites my torso from my legs, and my dying vision is one of incredulous amazement from the others as they wonder how I managed such a feat, and why I'd even want to do that.

My corpse is lying bloodied and crushed at their feet. At least one of the paladins has the presence of mind to resurrect me. 'WTF? What just happened?' came the call from the warrior.

'Spectrecles, does that mean anything to you? If you don't wear spectrecles, you cannot see the dragon, ergo you cannot attack it. Could everyone please wear them.' I'm hoping I made my point this time.

It seems my point was indeed made, as the warrior's leadership started to shine through. 'Put your spectrecles on everyone', he instructed helpfully, 'make sure you're wearing them!' I'm glad someone is pointing this out, otherwise a man could get hurt. I return to my vantage point to wait for the dragon's slow flight to return to a point where I can get its attention again. 'Faust', starts the warrior, 'please put your spectrecles on!'

Apart from having asked and instructed everyone to do just this, and hoping that this would implicitly make people aware that I know I need to wear the spectrecles, I feel compelled to tell that warrior 'dude, I pulled the bastard, I think I can see it.' I'm beginning to wonder if we'll be successful. Even so, I show him my Evoker's Helm of Second Sight, the ultimate quest reward for the chain that first offers the spectrecles, which offers all the benefits of spectrecles whilst also adding to my power, just to assuage his reservations that someone in the group actually knows what he's doing.

The dragon comes around again, I call it a silly dragon that cannot even kill a warlock properly to get its attention, and I run and jump back down to my waiting companions, sweating a bit remembering what happened last time. But everyone was ready and waiting. One paladin starts his most threatening attacks, the other keeps our health good, and the rest of us start to attack the dragon with our spells and weapons. But the dragon isn't impressed. First, the smooth, creamy mage goes down in a couple of hits, closely followed by my chewy warlock self, and it isn't long before the crunchy-on-the-outside warrior and paladins are thoroughly stomped on.

A quick soulstone resurrection is followed with the rest of the group being revived, and some obligatory finger-pointing in the half-hearted review of our strategy. That the paladin couldn't hold the dragon's attention is concluded pretty quickly, as it was kind of obvious. A brief discussion ensues about what can be done, which effectively results in my telling the warrior to switch to defensive stance, spam sunder armour, and suck up having to be a tank occasionally, to which he agrees to try. I may have been more polite about it at the time, but probably not.

I wearily head back up to the peak. I don't even have to cast a spell or say anything to get the dragon to come to me this time, my armour was so stained with blood that he smelt my presence a mile off. I half-jump half-tumble down to the battle area, and cower a little as the warrior starts his attacks. They are working! The mage and paladin start attacking in earnest, and so I join in too. The dragon is getting thoroughly annoyed with the warrior, and as the paladin is keeping the warrior alive, the rest of us are free to kill the dragon! Success, and the warrior picks up the armour that was jammed in the dragon's hide, or something.

All that is left to do is politely head back to the mainland to summon the two paladins back, lest they are left with no alternative but to jump off the edge and rely on the kindness of the spirit healer at a graveyard to get them off the ledge and back to civilisation. Thankfully the group does not split before this is done, as the three of us that have flying mounts are needed to cast and assist with the summoning ritual. And whilst this summoning procedure is being carried out, I get a call, another plea from a stranger. Could I help with killing an undead dragon, please...?

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One Response to “Gorefiend's Armour: Helping to Defeat Vhel'kur”

Ah, you brought back some memories of this quest I completed with my hunter. I remember I was the one who had to pull the dragon and accidently didn't get the shot off in time the first go round, I remember the tank, leader, replying to me, HOW DO YOU MISS ON YOUR FIRST SHOT?! I told him I never got the shot off...it was quite amusing, although he didn't really see the humor...this makes me want to start playing my hunter again...darn... :)